Romanticism in Literature

The romantic movement or romanticism in literature emerged as a response to the industrial revolution during the second half of the 18th century. Having originated in Europe, the movement quickly spread all over the world. With the rapid industrialization that took place all over the world and the age of enlightenment, romanticism in essence contradicted the beliefs that formed the very foundation of these periods. While the enlightenment age believed in focusing on human life, relationships, and institutions with a scientific approach, the romantic movement in literature paid more attention to aesthetics, to the surreal, and catered to the emotions rather than succumbing to the practical approach that was then becoming the norm. Not only literature, the romantic movement resulted in the creation of other disciplines such as romantic music and romantic art. The romantic movement was defined by some very specific characteristics, which we will discuss here.

Romanticism in Literature: Characteristics

Romanticism in literature was popularized by poets and authors such as John Keats, Shelley, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. These romantic literature authors believed in creative expression through pieces of prose and poetry, a movement that soon began to affect the world in terms of emotions and relationships. Romanticism in literature is alive to this date, and traces of this genre can be viewed in some pieces of writing. Romantic authors made an attempt to view the mundane in a very extraordinary manner. A good example is the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth. An analysis of Daffodils by William Wordsworth clearly exhibits the many characteristics of romanticism, one of which has been mentioned above.

Another among the many important characteristics of romanticism is the view of life in its minor aspects and not as a whole. In his popular work Defence of Poetry, Shelley argued that human beings must understand and learn to appreciate the little things that life has to offer, to make the pain and pleasure of another individual one’s own to truly comprehend the meaning of life. The basic effort of the romantic movement was to incorporate creative expression, transforming the ordinary to the extraordinary, and experiencing emotions at not a superficial but at a deeply intense level.

All in all, romanticism in literature made a profound attempt to experience life more passionately, be it the self or another, be it an emotion or an object. Instead of focusing on a practical, logical, or scientific approach, as popularized during the Enlightenment or the industrial revolution, romanticism was directed towards focusing within oneself for solutions and newness, and encouraged people to trust themselves and their instincts. Romantics also made an attempt to focus on nature, to give it importance above the scientific revolution that had overtaken the world. This they believed, would change the way the world was perceived, and would help individuals understand themselves better.

While understanding romanticism in literature, examples of which include works of the aforementioned authors, one should also focus on a sub-genre of this field, dark romanticism. While romanticism in itself focused on beauty and an out of the world view of life, dark romanticism focused mainly on tragedies and horror. Though a sub-genre of romanticism, dark romanticism turned out to be almost an opposite of romanticism in itself. This sub-genre was more of an extension of American romanticism in literature, which later spread to other parts of the world. Some popular works of dark romanticism include those by William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe.